Gigs

Went to End of the Road last weekend. Weather held up (almost) and it's a great festival for getting about. It feels big but spacious and it's no challenge getting from one side to the other. Some highlights....

Scalping played at 8pm on Sunday but the show they put on should have been a late night slot. 5 piece consisting of a drummer, guitarist, someone on a modular synth, someone on a laptop (and at least another piece of kit) - they could have been doing the visuals or playing, not sure, and someone who flitted between guitars and synths. Sublime projections behind them and awesome lights. They played one continuous set for an hour, more like a dance PA than a band, and had the crowd jumping right from the start. Mixture of house, hard house, techno, trance, breakbeat and metal with an incredible layer of noise from the guitars (which I think went through multiple pedals and effects as it sounded like there was 10 of them playing at times). Probably the highlight of the weekend and will definitely be seeing them again.

Pixies were the main headliner. Seen them many times and they always put on a great show and this wasn't an exception. My only gripe is I don't really like much of the output since they reformed, and those songs are generally much longer than the 2 minute classics, and they group them all together in the middle of the set, so there's a lull where they can loose the crowd.

Fat Dog played a set on a lovely small stage in the woods and attracted a great crowd. Raucous and full of energy from the start they certainly entertained and another one I will be seeing again.

Black Midi are a band I find both hard to listen too and impossible to ignore. They don't work for me recorded but live they are captivating. Tempo and key changes frequently mid-track, as if 3 songs are being mashed together, but unlike freeform jazz it's still very structured. The drummer is sensational and they play with an incredible precision. 

The Bug Club opened the main stage on the Sunday and attracted a solid crowd. Simple three piece rock n roll band from Wales. Whimsical lyrics and infectious riffs combine perfectly and the two singers (one male, one female) voices work beautifully together. A definite favourite and would love to see them again.

Other notable mentions.... Pigs x7 were a lot of fun, Porridge Radio sounded great, Battles impressed (the sound was huge for just two people), Dehd did a secret set out the back of a van, Snapped Ankles were as good as expected, Yard Act closed out the main acts with a cracker

Just got back to the hotel after my Mudhoney gig. They were great, even though it was a short set. Found out Ash and Dinosaur Jr are due to play, but all my annual leave is already booked, bugger.

My sister was at that gig, she said it was great 👍 gutted I missed it

Quite energetic down the front. I stood to the edge, my knees cannot take the pogoing. Wasn’t packed, but not a bad turn out for a Wednesday night. Reasonably distanced if that is a concern.

There all starting to show their age just a bit now, but then their show doesn't rely on them moving much, other than David and he's still very sprightly. 

Have to disagree on Breeders only having one good song though, and Pixies later stuff being (pretty) good. 

Come on Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa and Doolittle are amazing albums, but whilst Bossanova and Trompe le Monde have some good tracks on them, they are for me a step down. The last 4 albums really don't do much for me at all, the songs don't have anywhere near as much energy and they just plod along in comparison to their earlier material. There's no edge to them at all. Probably not surprising as they were in their 20s for the the first lot, and their 50s for the later ones.

They still put on an amazing show, but the section when they play the newer songs simply don't match up to when they play from the first 3 (and notably, I they know this as in most sets those first 3 albums make up more than half the list).

The Breeders on the other hand have released 5 excellent albums (and 3 cracking EPs), and The Amps' album (which is half of the Breeders) is up there as one of my favourite albums Kim has appeared on. They play less from the 3rd and 4th albums live, but that's (I think) more down to them being from when Josephine and Jim had left the band before coming back. Unsurprisingly they play a lot off Last Splash, but then that was their most popular and the first with the band they have today. But they also play a lot off All Nerve and those tracks flow perfectly in the set alongside the earlier work.

Kim has also had some cracking solo releases on 7" a while back. Frank's (very prolific) solo stuff for some reason never really did it for me, maybe it's not seeing any of it live, but it just seems a bit pedestrian.

Shouldn't compare them, as they are 2 of my favourite bands, but whilst Doolittle is clearly the best out of their joint discography (personally think it's as close to a perfect album as you can get), I think any of the Breeders output is better than the last 4 Pixies albums and shuffle in with the first 2.

TLDR; Kim's discography is better than Frank's, and she has an awesome twin sister in her band.

Ridiculous.

Dog in the Sand > everything the Breeders did.

He says he just writes the songs as usual, then gives them to Joey Santiago who "pixifies them"

I think a lot of his solo stuff is great. I think if he had taken the best of Black Letter Days and Devil's Workshop (released on the same day) and release on one album, it would have been his best.

Saw them in Glasgow again this summer (great venue, it's an outdoor bandstand in a small amphitheater), I agree the newer stuff is not as good, but it rarely is....they rip through the show at such a rate though, they pack so much in. None of this pretending to finish then come back on encore rubbish, there's another classic squeezed in there.

He has a slight paunch, but hardly changed.

Tonight it is RotJ with a live orchestra.

Not a gig, but went raving last weekend.

Kniteforce records put on a night at Scala in London and the lineup (if you like breakbeat, hardcore, rave and early jungle) was amazing. Nookie, Ray Kieth, Shades of Rhythm and Altern8 would have been good enough, but ACEN did a live PA making a very rare performance (even just DJing in the UK is rare these days).

The sound system was thunderous, the bass absolutely bonkers. The crowd was predominantly over 40s, but a few kids came along and the atmosphere was joyous from start to finish (though headed home not long after 3, 6 was a step to far).

Seeing PUP two weeks tomorrow then Pavement the following Monday (both Leeds).

Absolutely can't wait for the latter - I'll die a little inside if they don't play Gold Soundz though.

Went to the matinee on Saturday, awesome stuff!

If 18 year old me was asked to do a festival lineup it would basically be this:

I must be too old. The only one I'd maybe check out would be the offspring, maybe green day.

Bunch o' young person's pop-punk shite.